Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Dies at 89

Ms. Lee on the porch of the family home in Alabama in 1961. Credit Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection, via Getty Images

“Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” … “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee, author of one of the most beloved and most taught works of fiction ever written by an American, has died. She was our mockingbird, singing her heart out for us.To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about racial injustice in a small Alabama town, sold more than 10 million copies and ranks among just about everyone’s favorite books.Thank you for your sweet song, Harper Lee.